In late summer you'll find us at Watauga County Farmers' Market. See our home page for links and details. This is a time honored tradition in this area and its lots of fun.
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What are the Honey Bees doing right now? Shivering! In the winter Honey Bees huddle together in their "winter cluster", eat honey and shiver. This generates heat... lots of heat. The center of the cluster is over 90 degrees fahrenheit no matter how cold it is outside.
On warm days the bees come out for a "stretch" then go right back in the hive. When the trees and flowers bud in the spring the bees go to work. The queen starts laying eggs and the works start working and the magic of the honey flow begins.
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If conditions in the hive get a bit too cozy, the bees will “swarm”. About Half of the bees in the colony leave with the queen. The queen lands and the swarm lands around her. From there “scouts” go out and find a new home. The bees left back in the old hive create a new queen. This is a photo of a swarm on the truck of a Hemlock tree. A good beekeeper will capture the swarm to make a new hive.
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This photo shows a “frame” of healthy, active Honey Bees. During the summer, the hives are inspected often to make sure the queen is alive and well and that the bees are making honey. Some frames will contain only honey while others contain brood (baby bees) and pollen.
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These are beehives with bees buzzing all around. Each hive has one queen and around 30 to 60 thousand bees. The queen is the mother of every single bee in the hive. A healthy queen can lay around 15 hundred eggs a day and she call live to be 3 or 4 years old! This is how bees beat the odds in nature, by producing huge numbers!
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Cut comb or “fancy honey” is our biggest seller. Each jar contains a slice of the comb with nothing but pure honey in each cell. The comb is delicious and contains many beneficial properties. It is said that the best honey is that which is undisturbed in the comb.
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Smoke confuses the bees and prevents them from attacking in mass. The veil keeps bees out of the beekeeper’s hair and eyes. During an inspection, the presents of a healthy queen is top priority. Then the beekeeper looks for other problems like parasites or waxmoth. One must work quickly. If the hive is left open for too long it could harm the larvae.
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Our honey is pure, raw honey. We take it from the frames using a honey extractor, a hand cranked device that slings the honey out of the comb. Then we run the raw honey through a filter several times to remove the bits of wax and debris. What left is liquid gold, clean and delicious.
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For thousands of years man has gathered and dined on honey. From prehistoric times to the Bible to today, honey has been part of our history. Raw honey is a great alternative to processed sugar. Use it in tea, coffee, on toast, bagels and biscuits... yum!
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Our hives, frames, wax and honey are all locally produced. We believe strongly that buying locally made products is good for you, good for us and good for our country.
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